Political will needed to end new HIV transmissions – HIVI

New HIV transmissions can be ended, but political will is needed, according to voluntary organisation HIV Ireland (HIVI).

Over 8,000 people are living with the virus in Ireland, and newly notified transmissions are going up by about 200 a year.

The first national HIV conference opens in the Aisling Hotel in Dublin today, and keynote speaker at the event, Yvonne Gilleece, who is chair of the British HIV Association, has said a lack of testing makes it difficult to know how many new HIV transmissions there are in Ireland.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said: “The reality is we don’t know that answer, because there’s not enough testing happening in Ireland to be able to answer that.

“We know there’s opt-out emergency department testing in St James’s Hospital … we know there’s 8,000 people living with HIV, but we think there’s probably about 15% of people in Ireland who don’t know they are.”

Ms Gilleece said that testing and treatment were the main components of eradicating HIV transmissions.

She said: “The key thing is testing and HIV prevention treatment, and they’ve been really two of the key successes within the English UK HIV action plan.

“There’s been 4 million emergency department HIV tests carried out, and 1,400 new HIV diagnoses made. But we also have increased the number of people accessing HIV prevention treatment.

“People might not know, but there’s a pill that people who are at risk of acquiring HIV can take to avoid getting HIV. We’ve been increasing our ability to give that to the population who need it.”

Ms Gilleece said that the Irish Government needed to intervene with funding in order for targets to be met.

“You need commitment, urgent commitment to progress, and that’s what the two-day conference is about, bringing people together who can collaborate, who can actually plan the pathway because it has to be actioned,” she said.

“Committing is one thing, but you actually have to get funding in place, and make the plan and put the plan in place.

“Funding is essential. It’s the only way it works,” she added.